In the late 1880s, Gen. John D. Imboden, late of the Army of the South, working for the Tinsalia Company, helped convince a bunch of rich Northerners of the great potential for iron and coal in Southwest, by God, Virginia. However, it wasn’t until around 1903 that the Imboden Coal Company lured the Virginia Coal and Iron Company into running a line up Pigeon Creek (which goes under these trestles) to extract coal from ICC’s mines. This is one of three former double line trestles over the Pigeon that we saw on a trip up this line. The line on the left is active, sort of; the trestle on the right has been converted to auto and foot traffic. The curve to the right just beyond the converted trestle heads up to a former coal mine.
Note: the ties on the right trestle are rotting.